Science and Power in Global Food Regulation: The Rise of the Codex Alimentarius

TitleScience and Power in Global Food Regulation: The Rise of the Codex Alimentarius
Publication TypeJournal Article
AuthorsWinickoff, David E., and Douglas M. Bushey
JournalScience, Technology & Human Values
Volume35
Issue3
Pagination356-381
ISSN0162-2439, 1552-8251
AbstractThe emergence of the global administrative sector and its new forms of knowledge production, expert rationality, and standardization, remains an understudied topic in science studies. Using a coproductionist theoretical framework, we argue tha the mutual construction of epistemic and legal authority across international organizations has been critical for constituting and stabilizing a global regime for the regulation of food safety. The authors demonstrate how this process has also given rise to an authoritative framework for risk analysis touted as ‘‘scientifically rigorous’’ but embodying particular value choices regarding health, environment, and the dispensation of regulatory power. Finally, the authors trace how enrollment of the Codex Alimentarius in World Trade Law has heightened institutional dilemmas around legitimacy and credibility in science advice at the global level. Taken together, the case illustrates the importance of attending to the iterative construction of law and science in the constitution of new global administrative regimes.
URLhttp://sth.sagepub.com/content/35/3/356
DOI10.1177/0162243909334242
Short TitleScience and Power in Global Food Regulation